Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 78

26 The Arizona RepublicTHE PHOENIX GAZETTE Wed- April 29, 1 992 Police urge area residents to fight back against graffiti BEST HOME Mayor believes people have answers to problems and other surfaces as a way to block The Desert Horizon Police Precinct in northeast Phoenix is trying to educate the public about gang graffiti and how to get rid of it. Officer Willie Collins said residents should call the city's graffiti hotline, 262-7210, to report graffiti for removal. Residents also can call Phoenix Clean and Beautiful at 262-4820 to get information about city programs to paint over graffiti. Gangmembers use graffiti to announce the existence of their gang, to mark territory, to list the names or nicknames of people heavily involved in their gangs, and at times as a bulletin board to announce future events, such as a fight with another gang. Gang members cross out the names of rival gangs that have been spray painted on block walls VIOLATORS From Paget challenge the rival gang to a fight.

Gang graffiti also has the effect of "glorifying" a gang's presence in a community. Warren Brown, the site coordinator for the city of Phoenix New Turf Project, said residents should take a photograph of graffiti and document the location of the graffiti and when they first noticed the graffiti. The photographs should be sent to the police department or given to an officer. Then, residents can paint over the graffiti as an indication to gangs that the host community is not going to tolerate their presence, Brown added. Phoenix New Turf is a federally funded program that works to lower gang membership and decrease the high school drop-out rate.

the department domain have included damage to golf carts, exercise and playground equipment and parks department buildings. The parks department operates on more than $40 million annually to maintain the 160 parks, 26 pools and five golf courses that make up the 30,000 acres of property under the department's charge. Libraries, although in the same department as parks and recreational facilities, have a separate budget. Glendale RECYCLING CENTER CASH FOR ALUMINUM CANS JJPER POUND lQ) Expires SPEEDY COVERED DRIVE-THRU SERVICE 5120 W. Bethany Home Rd.

CALL 435-GANS Hours: 7-5, Sat. 7-4 We Pay The HIGHEST PRICES! Price Paid Subject To Change Without Notice 65) Chappie Camacho added. Stiffer penalties are in force for driving or parking vehicles off paved areas, vandalism, and bringing glass beverage containers into parks. Fines range from $50 to $2,500 with eight hours of community service under the supervision of the parks department. The upgraded ordinances were passed last year by the City Council.

Major acts of vandalism to the parks, pools and golf courses under Custom Mode Rings with your gold LI Mounting only DILTMORE JEWELERS Thousands of settings to choose from. 4714 E. CACTUS ROAD 996-0940 75 Government not panacea By Ryan Konig Staff writer Mayor Paul Johnson's view of government changed when residents organized a northwest Phoenix neighborhood to protect themselves during a series of arson fires. Johnson was campaigning for City Council door-to-door in the Manzanita neighborhood near 40th and Northern avenues, when it endured a string of fires and burglaries during the summer of 1985. Residents responded by patrolling the streets and setting up a block watch.

The results inspired Johnson to adopt a belief that people, not government, have the answers to community problems. "The issue that's going to be important over the upcoming decade is a recognition that there are two ways to get a public program. One is through financial capital, which means taxes. The other is through human capital, individual involvement. "I think what we are finding out as budgets get tighter is that we've made some mistakes in the past," Johnson said, referring to a fading, widespread belief that city governments held the power to solve all problems.

"Government is not a panacea we do not have the answers to every problem. Most of the answers exist within our communities, within us as individuals, within our families and neighborhood groups." The Manzanita Neighborhood found at least some of the answers they needed to turn their community around. Within months of first trying to organize, residents collected information that helped police catch a 21-year-old man who later pled guilty to two counts of arson. Several other counts were dropped in a plea agreement. "One of the things that I say in all of my speeches to public groups is that there is just no doubt that we can do more to reduce crime in our neighborhoods by just knowing who lives across the street, who lives on either side of us.

"There also is no doubt that the city can't put a police officer on every corner, the citizens can't afford that, it would be way too expensive." Johnson cited a poll taken about a year ago in which 60 percent of the respondents reportedly were unable to name any of their next door neighbors. "Just knowing who your neighbor is can help in fighting burglaries, gangs, and it can help in areas that are being pummeled by the most intense criminal activity." The city's role in neighborhood fight back efforts is to take a back seat to the leadership of residents and to provide back up with city services, such as intensified police patrols or additional street lights. "When residents march up and down their streets saying they're not going to. take it anymore, it sets a new standard. "It also sets a standard for the kids, and it's not a standard being set by some strong arm of the law, but one that is set by their parents and neighbors, by people who mean something to them from a community standpoint." I H-1 APPLIANCES TATUM BELL RD.

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WAL-MART CENTER "The Best Products at the Best Prices" 4727 E. Bell Road 482-2737 IFF I Jag? I cooktop From Page 1 Within an hour of getting that tip, police stormed the flophouse but didn't find Luster. The fifth fire never came. Residents held their first Block Watch meeting, and the summer siege had ended. It was the end of passive fear for Manzanita residents, Nye said.

The tactics they used to protect themselves since have spread to hundreds of other neighborhoods after Nye, Shirley Ryan and others co-founded the Phoenix Block Watch Advisory Board. Mayor Paul Johnson remembers Manzanita's summer siege. At that time, Johnson was canvassing the neighborhood in a successful run for City Council. He said in a recent interview that he was inspired by Manzanita's fight back effort to adopt a relatively new political philosophy in which the city empowers residents to solve community problems rather than have the city direct such efforts. Out of that philosophy, the city during Johnson's tenure as mayor has created the Phoenix Block Watch Commission, Neighborhood Fight Back and other programs intended to encourage residents to organize their neighborhood.

"When. I was running for City Council in 1985 I remember specifically walking through the Manzanita neighborhood," Johnson said. "There were very few people outside, lawns weren't well-maintained and there was a small group of people who were extremely upset about an arsonist who would set fires (to homes) and then after doing so, would rob their homes. "But the neighborhood pulled together. A year later, the streets were cleaner, lawns were maintained, couples were walking on the sidewalks, kids were out riding bikes.

The environment had begun to change, and it was a change that was self-imposed. "The city helped; we provided police officers and a tie to the Police Department, but the people who made the difference were the people in the neighborhood. "From my standpoint, that is when I first began to believe that the answer to our' problems is within us as individuals, it's with the people, not with government. That's what' I brought with me in becoming mayor, a belief that government can help, but that the citizens should lead." Within a week of the fourth arson attack, police spottgd a young man with a bandage wrapped around his hand in a restaurant near Cave Creek Road and Sweetwater Avenue. Manzanita residents learned of Luster's arrest during the neighborhood's first organizational meeting.

After Luster entered a plea agreement in which several counts of arson were dropped, he was ordered to pay $118,000 in restitution to victims. He said to the Maricopa County Superior Court judge, "I go to prison, then when I get out, I'm in debt $118,000. Is that a good way to start out my life?" The judge, Bernard Dougherty, responded, "It's a good way to make you pay for what you've done." monument Countv officials quickly ac knowledged they had goofed, Phoenix officials agreed to maintain a new structure, federal officials agreed to provide a nearby site, and letters were sent to all concerned saying that a solution is in the offing. Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson and Betsey Bayless, chairwoman of the Maricopa County supervisors, both have assured Walker in writing that the gateway sign will be replaced. Preliminary plans for the construction show that the new monument will be near the entryway to the federal National Veteran's Cemetery and will include a parking area, desert plant display garden and eventually a trail head into the Reach 11 Desert Park.

Walker, ever cautious about the inner working of government, was non-judgmental about the disappearance of the sign, recognizing that "it was a lower-level decision that never should have happened." She is taking a wait-and-see position on construction, recognizing that the uncertain construction schedule "involves two government entities." "It is good to see that there will be cooperation between the two governments," she said. "It's nice to get a' result," she said. "When we see it dedicated, we'll say we won. We will celebrate at the dedication." renters were fond of partying until sunrise. The home had been partitioned reportedly to hold 13 renters at $55 a week.

With not enough faucets to go around, windows were cracked to allow hoses and pipes to bring in water from outside spigots. During the summer of 1985, residents had more to worry about than stereo noise and rooftop basketball. A string of arson attacks began in which a fire would be set in the glove box of a car, spreading to the carport and adjoining home. Sometimes the car would explode. Residents would collect into the streets to watch firefighters battle the blaze.

Some of the onlookers would return to their homes to find that they had been burglarized. And, sometimes, a burglar would strike the fire-damaged home after the occupants left to spend the night elsewhere. It was the fourth fire, July 12, 1985, on Las Palmaritas Drive near 41st Avenue, that got residents as angry as they were scared, Nye said. During that fire, firefighters had a tough time getting into the home to rescue the two women occupants. One of the women broke her ribs while squeezing through the security bars covering the windows of the burning home.

Nye, Shirley Ryan and others decided that the string of arson attacks would stop at four. They printed up 3,000 neon-orange fliers that announced a meeting in which residents would form a block watch. Chuck Ryan, Gary Owen and others began patrolling the neighborhood in shifts, communicating with each other on two-way radios, looking for anything suspicious that they could report to police. Owen said he remembers the fear residents showed during the summer siege. "We were out riding bicycles, patrolling the neighborhood and talking to neighbors," he said.

"Until that time, I hadn't realized just how much the fires had affected people. We found people sleeping in their cars with loaded guns. We heard about people sleeping in their back yards with loaded guns. "They were just waiting for this guy to strike again." Luster's alleged grip on the neighborhood began to unravel when it was learned that he had bandaged his hand after allegedly injuring it during the fourth arson attack. Shirley Ryan, while handing out fliers announcing the neighborhood meeting, met a man she described as a tall, thin and shy.

The man said he was one of the flophouse residents but that he had left hastily without his belongings because some of his roommates held a shotgun to his head. The man claimed that his roommates were angry with him because they thought he was a police informant. He later told police that one of his roommates had a bandaged hand and a wallet allegedly stolen from one of the homes that had been set afire. "It is good to see that there will be cooperation between the two governments." Jo Walker Member Tri-Village committee sported a monumental starting sign of desert rock and iron on a 50-foot concrete base. Until January.

The drive goes through, or borders upon, five political subdivisions: Scottsdale, Phoenix, Maricopa County, Carefree and Cave Creek, with some federal land thrown in for good measure. The monument had been on state land rented by Maricopa County for $640 per year and Phoenix recently annexed the area. With a street improvement project looming and Phoenix unwilling to maintain the landscaping around the Maricopa County crews removed Enter the citizens. At a February meeting, the Tri-Village committee passed a resolution demanding the monument's replacement and asking that Phoenix "take responsibility for maintaining the monument's lease area." DERMATOLOGY A New Suite Number and Telephone Number For Richard ottiglione, M.D. Board Certified Skin Cancer Detection Treatment 4045 E.

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Refreshments And Balloons By Chuck Hawley Staff writer Sometimes the system works, especially if enough strong-willed citizens apply sufficient pressure. Early this year, governmental miscommunication resulted in the destruction of an entryway monument to the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive on north Cave Creek Road. Local desert watchers didn't learn of the faux pas until too late the sign had been bulldozed. Outraged members of the Phoenix Desert View Tri-Villages Planning Committee geared up a full court press on local government officials, launched a flurry of letters and telephone calls, and now have been told that their monument will be replaced. Jo Walker, a member of the Tri-Village committee from Cave Creek and a long-time protector and advocate of the desert, does not gloat in the victory, but says that "the new location, with a trailhead to the Reach fl Park, may even be better than before." The scenic drive is 17 miles long and roughly in the shape of a hairpin anchored on Scottsdale and Cave Creek roads.

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